Money woes may slow La Raza show

Funding for planned car and truck show hits snag; appeals to Board of Control may not help

The La Raza Student Association's First Annual Car and Truck Show scheduled for May 6 at Cal State Long Beach has recently encountered some funding difficulties that involve the Associated Students and the Board of Control.

La Raza has been raising funds for this event since November totaling $7,900, more than half of the necessary funding needed for the show, but with the scheduled date of the car and truck show approaching, La Raza turned to the A.S. for help as their final option.

The Board of Control originally approved the amount of $5,100 for the show which has recently been lowered to $1,500, leaving a gap of needed funding, which according to Frank Aviles, organizer for the event, will probably have to come directly out of the pockets of the La Raza students.

"It would be a shame if we were put in that position," Aviles said. "We didn't even turn to [the A.S.] for the whole funding of the program, it was less than half."

A.S. President Suzie Aramesh believes that the La Raza Car and Truck show is an excellent program, but does not believe that it is a program worthy of $5,100 worth of budgeting from the B.O.C.

Aramesh also said that the B.O.C. has never given that much funding to an artistic program, which to her, is what the car show is, and she went on to say that it is not the role of the B.O.C. to help programs who are stuck in commitments without enough funding to pay for them.

"You can't just come to the B.O.C. and say, ÔI've organized my program and I have to pay for it.' You're not guaranteed to receive a certain dollar amount simply because of the planning that you've done," Aramesh said.

In Wednesday's A.S. Senate meeting, the Senate voted to approve an increase in the amount of funding allotted to La Raza by $2,000, going against the warning statement made by Aramesh a week earlier when she said that she would veto any senate action to increase the amount of money for the show.

A president's veto may be overruled by a two-thirds vote form the Senate.